More Heart Art....And Assorted Sundry Items

Sorry folks...life has gone on a whirlwind again after my post that I would be right back with some aging I was doing on the heart and background. This is going to be a basic, no frills explanation of what I have done.

As you can see above, the heart was adhered to the substrate with heavy gel medium, which I smoothed under the edge of the heart and let dry overnight. Then I needed something to make it become more *one* with the backing.

 

I mixed in some coarse white decorators sand into one of my gel mediums and carefully applied it to fill the small void that was left between the heart and the back from the thick layer of heavy gel underneath. I like mixing textures into my gels and will do a post on that specifically.

As with ANY GEL, these must dry completely before attempting to put a coat of paint over the top. I usually use a blow dryer to get the process started and then have to wait for the rest to cure on it's own.

Once dry, I used some fluid Pthalo (blue shade I think...) and dry brushed the straight color on.

I want to emphasize DRY BRUSHED, as this is an extremely intense color that can get out of hand really fast. It provides the feel of a shadow while also adding a bit of glow. Black and some of the other colors I used would not produce the same effect. 

I gently work a tiny amount out over some of the background paint, allowing it to become a bit of a green aura at the top.

This view from the top better shows how the Pthalo, feathered out, gives some depth to a busy area. The eye can separate the pieces better now.
One coat generally is not enough on the sides, so I went back in and hit the gel with sand a second time; much darker and now is both separating and tying the heart to the back.
I have also added some black mica gel to the heart so that it is not so stark red. The flame area required a bit more also.....dirtying things up and making it have some character. (an aside.....Black Mica Gel also has tiny bits of clear mica in it too~~it's a *two-fer*~~you get age and sparkle)

 

The final step was adding some micacous iron oxide to the bottom red of the panel. It settled into the textural depth and made the color pop more.

And that is pretty much how this was finished up to make a couple of very bright, very diverse, visually competing parts work together well.

As I mentioned, I will do a short post on things to add to gels for different textures. Yes, you can buy textured gels, but you can do a lot of specialized small amount batches and save a lot of money.

There are some gels you can imitate a bit to see if you like them before buying and there are others that you can dream up with what you have on hand or can scrounge at wonderful places like Dollar Stores and Overage Stores.

Okay, I'm off to fight the grocery zombies.....if I don't resurface you'll know I was caught in their Rampage of Carts (and cell phones....grrrrrr.......)
Have fun~~make some art!

Pax....